Coffee Morning
by 10Blue10
Summary: A couple of days after mission 'Fifty-Fifty', Osgood bumps (quite literally) into fellow scientist Malcolm Taylor. He suggests they could talk about their encounters with the Doctor over coffee on Saturday...but he also wants to talk about something more, and neither of them are sure where things will go from there, but one thing is certain...they're giving each other a chance.


Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I've been struggling with writers block for my other stories, but I am working on it, promise. As for this story, it came about because I started thinking of how cute Malcolm and Osgood would be together, two Doctor-worshipping, glasses wearing science geeks in love ;) I looked for art or fanfiction about them, but I couldn't find anything. In fact, I mostly found Osgood/Kate fanfictions :( Now I've got nothing against slash fiction, but sometimes I think people create same gender ships 'just because', and ignore perfectly good straight ships.

So with this story, I hereby set sail a new ship for the fandom. As for the name, I'm partial to 'Oscolm', but I'll take other suggestions. I hope you all like it, and that some of you might decide to ship them alongside me :)

/

Coffee Morning

Osgood was walking on air. Not literally, of course – that was a physical impossibility – but her steps were light as she made her way through the halls of UNIT HQ. She could almost believe that she was flying, rising into the stratosphere, the air getting thinner…wait, no, she was just becoming lightheaded again. Pausing at a corner, she pulled her inhaler from her pocket and took a puff.

Once her lungs had decided to work properly again, Osgood straightened the loops of striped scarf around her neck and went on her way. Right around the corner, however, she literally walked into someone and the papers they were both holding went flying. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Osgood cried apologetically, kneeling to gather up the wayward papers and nearly dropping her inhaler in the process.

"No, no, it's my fault" a familiar voice assured her, and she looked up to see who she had bumped into. "Hello, Malcolm" she greeted the young, bespectacled scientist who was picking up his own papers. He blinked at her, as if surprised to be addressed, and replied "Oh, yes, hello". He got to his feet, and rather stiffly held his hand out to help Osgood to hers. She smiled at the gesture and took his hand. "Thank you…sorry again for walking into you" she apologised once more.

Malcolm waved it off and insisted, "Don't be sorry, I should have been looking where I was going".

This reminded Osgood that Kate was expecting her, and she hastily began excusing herself. "Right, well, it was nice seeing you, but I should probably be going…"

"Yes, of course" he nodded, "Didn't mean to keep you…uh, that's a nice scarf, by the way, where did you buy it?"

"Oh, thank you. I knitted it myself, actually; it took me forever, but it was worth it".

"I'm sure. It'll certainly keep you warm, ah heh…" Malcolm cleared his throat and added, "Anyway, things to do, people to see and all that. I'll uh, see you later Miss Oliver".

"Call me Osgood; after all, we're friends, aren't we?" she smiled at him, and he suddenly felt very warm.

"Oh, err, y-yes, friends. Colleagues, work mates – mates at work, that is, friends, friends at work. Uh, bye" he stammered out, before stepping around her and walking away. Osgood blinked in bewilderment, then shrugged and went on her way. She didn't get very far before hearing running feet, and turned to see Malcolm hurrying to catch up with her. "Miss Ol- Osgood!"

"Yes?"

Malcolm wrung his hands nervously. "Listen, I…I don't mean to be forward, or anything, but…would I be right in assuming that you've heard of the Doctor?"

Osgood couldn't help but smile at the mention of the Time Lord's name. "I don't think there's anyone at UNIT who hasn't heard of the Doctor" she pointed out, before leaning in and murmuring, "I actually met him a couple of days ago, when the Zygons attacked".

"I've met him too, when he came back out of a wormhole flying a bus" Malcolm revealed with a giddy grin, "I even got to hug him".

"Oh, I wish I'd had the chance to…wait, did you say he was flying a _bus_? You must mean the mission code named 'Stingray', the one headed by Captain Magambo, right?"

"That's the one. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I played a pretty significant role… perhaps I could tell you the whole story at some other time. Say, over a coffee?"

"I'd love to hear it; Kate and I have a lunch break at twelve fifteen tomorrow, I could meet you then".

"Well, yes, we could meet at lunch, or… what's your schedule like for this Saturday?" he inquired. Osgood pulled out her pocket planner to double check, and reported "I'm free from nine o clock until eleven".

"I'm free that morning as well, so…why don't we meet that coffee house, the Java Bean? I hear their breakfast bacon sandwiches are delicious".

"Okay, I'll meet you there at nine, then?"

"Ah, better make it nine-thirty. I have a dentist appointment at eight, but they're always running overtime" he sighed. They wrote the time and place in their planners, bid each other goodbye and went their separate ways. When Osgood reached Kate's office, she apologised "So sorry it took so long, ma'am. I bumped into Malcolm – literally – and got caught up talking to him".

Kate looked up from her desk and smiled understandingly. "That's alright, Osgood. It gave me a chance to try and straighten things up around here" she said, gesturing to her paper strewn desk. She rubbed her temples and continued, "Remind me again why I agreed to be UNIT's head scientific advisor, and practically run the whole show?"

"Because you wanted to emulate the Doctor and follow in your father's footsteps" Osgood answered her boss from sheer force of habit. Kate stared at her, and she realised "You were being rhetorical…sorry" she winced sheepishly.

Kate merely chuckled in mild amusement. "Please, don't ever change. I can't say you're wrong, anyway; part of the reason _is_ because I wanted to live up to two men I admire…speaking of admiration, how is Malcolm?" she inquired, partly to be polite and partly out of genuine curiosity.

"He's fine…well" Osgood hesitated, "He did seem a bit flustered for some reason; but I suppose I can ask him about it on Saturday" she mused, before elucidating for Kate's benefit, "We've agreed to meet at the Java Bean coffee house on Saturday morning. Malcolm offered to tell me about his involvement in the Stingray mission".

"Oh yes, or as Malcolm likes to call it, 'the greatest day of his entire life'" Kate said knowingly; Dr Taylor's admiration for the Doctor was a well-known fact amongst UNIT members, especially because the man would tell anybody listening about the time he saved the Doctor's life and hugged the most incredible person in the universe. "Are you going to tell him about your own encounter?" she asked Osgood, who nodded immediately.

The two of them returned their attention to their work, but Kate wondered if Osgood realised that Malcolm had essentially asked her on a date. It was against UNIT policy for her to actively encourage relationships between staff members, so she didn't mention anything, but if something came of this coffee morning then Kate would be very happy for the pair of them.

/

On Friday, Osgood was working in one of the laboratories with a fellow scientist, Carol Johnson. Carol was an accomplished scientist specialising in genetics, and she was friendly towards Osgood…but something about the woman rubbed Osgood the wrong way. She was almost _too_ friendly sometimes, and enjoyed gossiping and shopping; a myriad of activities that Osgood herself had very little interest in. Osgood wasn't one to usually talk about her life outside of UNIT, but Carol never seemed to stop asking her about it.

"So, Osgood, are you doing anything this weekend?" Carol inquired with her usual white-toothed smile, "You see, a few friends and I were going out for a shopping spree tomorrow morning, and I wondered if you might like to join us?"

"Thanks for the offer, Carol, but I'm afraid I'm not free tomorrow" Osgood said apologetically. She hoped that Carol would just drop the subject there and then…she really should have known better.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot" Carol nodded, "I heard Dr Taylor had asked you out for coffee; don't tell me, you're both going to talk about how much you love the Doctor" she added with a small chuckle of amusement.

The tips of Osgood's ears reddened a bit…she wasn't ashamed of her admiration for the Doctor, but some of the scientists and soldiers at UNIT teased her about it. Never to her face, but they seemed to think she couldn't hear the whispers of 'fanatic', or the murmurs of 'She's as loopy about him as the scarf she's wearing'. "I don't think it's any of your business, really" she replied as primly as possible.

Carol pouted rather insincerely and said "Well, sorry. I didn't mean to offend you…but at least tell me what you're planning to wear" she insisted. Osgood sighed, realising that she wasn't going to drop the subject anytime soon, and shrugged, "Just something casual, trousers and a shirt, I suppose".

"You are going to put on a bit of make-up at least, right? And leave that scarf of yours at home?"

"Why would I need to put make-up on? And what's wrong with my scarf?"

"Nothing's wrong with it, it's just – well, it's not the sort of thing you wear on a date, is it?"

Osgood frowned in bewilderment as she looked up from her microscope. "A date?" she repeated, "It's not a – I mean, Malcolm never said – I think you're mistaken, Carol".

"Err, no offence, Osgood, but I think you're one mistaking things. A bloke doesn't have to outright ask you on a date for it to be a date, you know" Carol said confidently, before remarking "I'm surprised it took him so long, to be honest".

"What do you mean?"

"For someone so clever, you can certainly miss the obvious" Carol teased, "But I suppose we all do that on occasion. Think about it; whenever you're in the same room as him he keeps glancing at you, and he compliments you all the time... Surely you noticed?" she asked, but upon seeing Osgood's blank expression she realised, "Oh my God, you really didn't notice, did you?"

"I – you don't – there's nothing to notice!" Osgood insisted a bit defensively, "Dr Taylor and I are just friends, colleagues. Mates at work, that's all" she added, remembering what Malcolm had said on Tuesday. Then she recalled how he'd stammered, and it made her think of other times he'd seemed oddly nervous around her, and the moments when he'd praise her research, or her skills of deduction, or even just what she'd done with her hair…

"Inhaler!" Carol prompted quickly, seeing Osgood getting worked up. The other woman quickly fished her inhaler out of her pocket and puffed on it. She took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, "I'm just going to have coffee with a fellow co-worker, and I'd appreciate it if we didn't discuss this any further. I know you mean well, Carol, but I really don't want to talk about it".

That evening, in her small London flat, Osgood opened her wardrobe doors wide. Her face fell; she had _no idea_ what to wear. Carol's words kept turning over and over in her head, and the more she thought about it, the more she realised…perhaps Malcolm actually did have a crush on her.

It seemed ridiculous; after all, what could he possibly see in plain old her? Maybe he didn't mind that she wasn't really attractive, but even then…what would happen if things didn't work out? They would still have to work together at UNIT, and it would be so awkward. It would be awkward if they were dating as well, she thought. Besides, she wasn't sure she even had feelings for him that way. Osgood had always thought of Malcolm as one of her closest friends, but looking back...he did almost seem to want them to be more.

 _Do I feel the same way, though?_ she asked herself worriedly, _I mean, Malcolm is a great friend. He was so supportive when I first joined UNIT, and he was the first to congratulate me when I was promoted to be Kate's assistant…now that I think about it, I don't really mind if_ he _asks me about my life outside of work, and he once stood up for me when one of the new recruits called me…called me crazy for obsessing over the Doctor. He's always so nice and helpful, and he's so clever…oh, all this stuff is more confusing than, I don't know, quantum physics._

In the end, Osgood decided not to cancel the…the date…but she would try to find time to ask Malcolm if it _was_ a date. If he said no, then they could brush it off and talk about how silly people were to jump to that sort of conclusion. If he said yes…she supposed she would try to let him down gently.

/

Malcolm swallowed, and drummed his fingers on the table. He was so nervous; he'd finally gathered up the courage to ask Osgood out, and now it was nine-thirty five and he feared she wouldn't show up. The little bell rang to announce someone's arrival, and Malcolm felt relieved when he saw that it was Osgood. He raised a hand to wave her over; she spotted him in the corner and smiled, walking towards him.

He tried not to gape in amazement. He'd only really seen Osgood wearing her lab coat and outfits inspired by the Doctor…a far cry from the navy blue blouse and black knee length skirt she wore right now. Her long brown hair was styled into a French braid, and she wore a silver double heart pendant around her neck. She pulled out the chair opposite to him and greeted "Hey. Sorry I'm late, traffic was a nightmare".

"That's quite alright, I haven't been waiting that long" Malcolm assured her. In actual fact, his dentist appointment had been on time (for once) and he'd reached the coffee house half an hour too early, but he didn't mention that. Instead he gestured to her and managed to get out, "You, uh, you look great. Really great!" he smiled widely.

A small, shy smile appeared on her face as she adjusted her glasses, which were smaller than her usual pair. "Thank you…you look great too, very…Doctoresque" she said, using the best adjective she could think of to describe Malcolm's outfit. Considering he was wearing a suit modelled on the tenth Doctor's outfit, with pinstriped trousers, a dark blue shirt and tie, and a brown blazer in place of the long coat, it was a pretty fitting description.

"Heh, 'Doctoresque', I like that" Malcolm smiled, "So if I'm the Doctor, do you want to be my companion?" he tried to joke. Osgood blushed slightly, and he realised how his question had sounded. "I mean, not in _that_ sense – just in the sense of, I'm dressed like the Doctor, you're dressed sort of like one of his companions…not that I think all his companions wore skirts or anything, I wouldn't know, I haven't actually met any of his companions" he rambled, trying to salvage the situation.

Thankfully, at that moment the waiter appeared to take their orders. When the waiter had left, Osgood giggled a bit, and assured him "It's okay, I know you didn't mean…well, um, anyway…what about his companion's files? I thought you'd have read those, and they have photographs" she finished with a puzzled tone.

Malcolm pulled his thoughts away from what a nice laugh she had, cleared his throat and replied "Oh, right, yes. I have read the files, seen the photographs, and all that...mind you, it would be rather incredible to meet some of the companions in person. It's a shame that a lot of them can't be contacted" he sighed, before asking curiously "The Doctor had a companion with him during the Fifty-Fifty mission, didn't he? Clara Oswald. What was she like?"

"She was brave, and kind; I didn't really have a chance to speak to her much, but she seems like a lovely person. I hope I get the chance to chat with her properly one day; her and the Doctor" Osgood smiled thoughtfully.

A similar smile appeared on Malcolm's face as he pictured sitting down to talk with his greatest hero… "I always did think the Doctor was an excellent judge of character" he nodded, "Not to mention extremely clever. Well, of course he is, he's a genius".

"In a way, it's like he's twelve geniuses in one…I knew all along that he'd figure out a way to save us all".

"He never lets us down, does he?" Malcolm smiled, "Even if it seems like there's no sign of him, he always turns up in the end. He's just…the most incredible person".

"He is, isn't he? Brave, generous, intelligent, caring, handsome…" Osgood said dreamily, before sighing, "It's a shame he's not human".

Malcolm crashed back to planet Earth – for a moment or two, he'd almost convinced himself she was talking about _him._ "Oh, err, yes, such a shame…but err, since the Doctor is off the cards, so to speak, do you think…I mean, I don't suppose you'd consider someone who was perhaps less handsome, but still quite clever, and well meaning, and who really cared about you…" he trailed off, partly out of nerves and partly because their coffee and cake had arrived.

"Um…I don't really think, you know, him and I…that would never work out. As for considering someone else, I…I think I could, but there's a lot _to_ consider, especially if this person is a colleague for example…oh, this is ridiculous" she sighed, "To be perfectly honest, I was talking to Carol yesterday and she told me that this was, well, a date. I've been wanting to ask you since I arrived…is it? I mean, were you really asking me on a date?"

"Uh, w-well…yes. I was" Malcolm admitted nervously, before adding "But I, I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, and I understand if you'd rather we just called the whole thing off…"

"Oh, no, no, no, I don't feel uncomfortable. I suppose I just feel…surprised. Malcolm, do you…want us to be more than friends?"

Malcolm Taylor had never considered himself an especially brave person...yet that question gave him the opportunity to say what had been on his mind for ages. "Well, you see…a couple of years ago, a new scientist joined UNIT. She was very clever, of course, and I thought she was beautiful too, but she didn't seem to think so…she was always so modest, even when she got promoted. I…I couldn't get her out of my head, that smart and funny girl with the deep brown eyes, and unique fashion sense…

"Only trouble was, I couldn't work up the courage to tell her that…yes, I did want to be more than friends. I do" he admitted at last, reaching across the table and placing his hand on Osgood's. She gasped, but she didn't pull away, and that gave him hope that maybe, just maybe… "Would you ever consider giving me a chance?"

Osgood swallowed. _He called me beautiful_ she thought, disbelievingly, _No guy has ever called me beautiful before…_ Malcolm's words were so genuine, and his expression was so open and honest, that she found herself believing him. He really did think she was beautiful, and clever and modest and everything else… _He's felt like this since he_ met _me. I can't – how can I just turn down someone like that?_

Finally, she said truthfully "I'm not sure…if I feel about you the way you feel about me. I always thought we were just friends, but...you're generous, and kind, and clever, just like the Doctor…so I will give you a chance. And I will definitely consider being your…being your girlfriend" she admitted with a small smile; small, at least, compared to the beam that appeared on Malcolm's face.

"Oh, you don't know how happy I am to hear that! Thank you, Osgood; from the bottom of my one heart, thank you" he said gratefully, squeezing her hand.

She smiled and replied "You're welcome…so, I think you wanted to tell me about how you helped with the Stingray mission?"

"Right, yes – as the Doctor would say, allons-y! It all started when I arrived at the scene, and I figured out that my instruments wouldn't be able to detect the wormhole, so I set them to register what they _couldn't_ detect and inverted the image. Imagine my surprise when Magambo turned up to tell me the Doctor himself was on the phone…"


End file.
